Anyway, as you may recall, I spent last weekend in Florida, and I've returned victorious.
Last Wednesday night I went to bed early so I could wake up Thursday morning at 6:30 to take a shower and get dressed and pick Kellie up from the airport at 8.
No wait, that's what I meant to do. What actually happened Wednesday night was I got a little drunk with Lee to celebrate the end of his exams, and then I woke up Thursday morning at 8am to Lee saying, "Hey, do you know what time it is?" I have no memory of turning off my alarm, but I must have, because it obviously didn't wake me up.
The rest of that day (after the frantic dressing, re-packing, and driving to the airport) was pretty uneventful. Kellie and I met up with her sister Carrie and drove a million miles down to north Florida. The best part about traveling with women as opposed to men is that women don't judge you nearly as harshly when you demand to stop and use the restroom every 45 miles. It wasn't a bad ride at all, until the last 2 hours or so when I got really bored and started eating all of our snacks in an effort to entertain myself. (I was alone with the food in the back seat, which was maybe not the best idea.) When we finally arrived that night, about 8 hours later, we went out to dinner at a lovely bar on the beach. I had a crab cake and fries and a beer. I give that meal a 10 on the satisfaction scale.
Friday morning we slept in a little and then got up and spent some time on the beach. At the time that I was applying my sunscreen, we were planning on lying on the beach, so I took great care sunscreening my delicate alabaster skin in preparation for its first encounter of the year with the sun. At some point during my elaborate sunscreening procedure, however, the decision was made that we were merely going to be walking up and down the beach, rather than lying around. Thus, the majority of my sunscreen was rendered unnecessary when I put on shorts and a t-shirt over my bathing suit. My concern about the sun was not completely unfounded, though, since during our walk I proceeded to burn the bejeezus out of the top of my head, which was the only part of my body I had forgotten to sunscreen. So when I grow some kind of crazy scalp tumor, you'll know why.
Friday night was spent hanging out at the house of some friends of Kellie's dad. These friends live at the next house down the waterway from Kellie's dad, and they're very nice people. Last time I was down there they threw a kind of brunch party with pancakes and fruit and mimosas. This time around it was an evening affair, and there were veggies and crab dip and a fire and a sailboat we got to tour. (Their sailboat, incidentally. Not some kind of black market stolen sailboat that someone commandeered for the evening.) I got a little tipsy and had to play that game where I talk just enough not to seem antisocial but not so much that I say something embarrassing. Does anyone else worry about this stuff when they're drunk? Nope? Just me? Ok then. Moving on!
Saturday we got up and went to the Shrimp Festival, which was the whole reason for the trip. (Well that, and so Kellie and her siblings and her dad could all come together in one place for awhile. But mostly the Shrimp Festival.) For those of you that may be unaware, this is the 3rd Shrimp Festival that Kellie and I have visited together, which I believe in Florida makes us part of a Shrimp-Based Common Law Marriage or something. The Shrimp Festival has a lot of great things going for it. For one, during the weekend of Shrimp Fest, there's this bank that puts out a sign proclaiming themselves 'Shrimply the best!' which then gets a bastardized version of the Tina Turner song stuck in my head for the entire weekend. Nearly as important as that, however, is the event itself. It's a street festival with some booths set up for selling a variety of shrimp-based foods, and others where local artists sell their sculpture, paintings, and photography. There are also antiques dealers selling costume jewelry. And ice cream! This year, I enjoyed a 'shrimp twister' (lettuce, grilled shrimp, and a spicy dressing wrapped in a tortilla). I also ate fudge brownie ice cream in a leaky waffle cone. I took pictures of frolicking toddlers and people dressed as pirates. And I looked at lots of gorgeous art that made me feel brilliant and creative by association.
As if all that wasn't enough to make it a successful day, we spent Saturday night at Kellie's dad's house enjoying beer and rum and delicious grilled ribs with homemade barbecue sauce. (Basically, I spent 75% of the weekend tipsy.) Visiting Kellie's dad's house (which sits right on a gorgeous waterway) always makes me take a serious look at my life and ask myself: What can I do to end up living here?
Lovely screened-in back porch with view of the waterway.
Small dock-thing behind the house.
View from the dock as Kellie's brother fishes. It's just gorgeous, you know, no big deal.
Other questions Kellie's extremely health-conscious and athletic dad makes me ask myself: When's the last time I went to the gym? Why don't I get up at 8 am and bike 13 miles? How will I ever kick this Reese's peanut butter cup addiction? Self-consciousness aside, I always have an amazing time when we go down there. Kellie's dad, in cooperation with the state of Florida, has an uncanny ability to create the perfect combination of sunshine, nature, art, shrimp and booze to reignite my lust for life. So much so that even after I had to get up and ride another 9 hours back home on Sunday, and even after I had to return to a huge pile of work on Monday, I'm still feeling like everything is A-ok.
So... what's been going on with you?
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